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Matt. 8:5-10 - And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented." Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my
servant will be healed. "For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel." NASU
A centurion worked for the hated Roman Empire. He was in charge of or had authority over 100 men and this is where his name "centurion" or "100" derives. He was one who had sworn allegiance to the Roman Empire and he would do exactly as he was commanded. He was given the authority to put down any type of uprising by any means necessary. If you have read anything about the Jewish people in Jesus' day they always had a plot in action to overthrow the hated Roman Government. One famous Jewish insurrectionist was Barabbas. Mark 15:7 - The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. He was the one who was released by Pilate and then they crucified Jesus.
But if you really want to talk about him may I suggest you talk about his GREAT faith. This is what Jesus talked about when He spoke of him. Would Jesus say you have "Great Faith"? Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel." He didn't have faith, he had great faith.
Second, he understood "his sinfulness". He said to Jesus, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof,…" I am pretty sure some of the most horrific sins this man had committed came rushing into his guilty conscience. He was so moved with guilt he tells the Lord that he was not worthy to have him come to his house.
He is who He said He was. He is the Son of God. He does have all authority and it says this about Him in Matt. 28:18 - "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth…." He doesn't possess some authority. He possesses all authority and not just here on earth but in Heaven as well. Secondly, we must comprehend our own sinfulness. The Israelites who stood there and couldn't understand how Jesus could heal a leper and help a centurion's servant didn't understand their own sins. They were focused on the sins of others. You will never have amazing faith until you understand what Jesus did for you in regard to your sinfulness. You will never have great faith when all you do is look at others and how sinful they are. If we really want to look at a sinner we know all we have to do is look into a mirror. How will we arrive at having great faith? ... by truly understand Jesus' authority and our sinfulness. Think About These: Faith doesn't demand miracles, but it often accomplishes them. Doubt makes mountains. Faith moves mountains. Faith helps us walk fearlessly, run confidently, and live victoriously. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Matt 12:11-12 - And He said to them, "What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 "How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." NASU
The most important thing for us to remember is to "do good." Jesus asks the Pharisees a question "What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?" What Jesus is really saying is this: "You know if one of your sheep falls into a pit you are going to help it get out of there. You will not allow it to become a meal for wolves or coyotes, and you will even do this on the Sabbath."
I wasn't happy to be where I was. It was on days like that when I felt like I was drowning in work that I would ask my secretary, "Is there anyone in the hospital or did any visitors attend this past Sunday?" I knew instinctively I had to go and visit someone in the hospital or someone who was looking for a congregation to join. You don't know how many times I walked out of a hospital with a rejuvenated spirit. Why was I feeling better? I had allowed God to use me to "do good" for someone else. As I walked out of the hospital, I remember thinking to myself, "There isn't anyone in here who wouldn't want to trade places with you." You may not like your situation in life right now, but I can tell you I know people who would trade places with you in a New York second.
Maybe you can volunteer at a hospital or animal rescue center or you have an elderly neighbor that you can assist. If you want to be happy, then try this one thing: "doing good" to others. Jesus even promoted doing good on the Sabbath day. There is a lesson for us here: it doesn't matter which day of the week you want to do good. You can do good on Sunday or the Sabbath or any day. Doing good isn't restricted to any one day of the week. Think About These: People seldom get dizzy spells from doing good turns. People who do good today never have to apologize for their actions tomorrow. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Col 4:7-11 - Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information. 8 For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts;…
9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of your number. They will inform you about the whole situation here. 10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas's cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him); 11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. Col 4:12 - Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers,… Col 4:14 - Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings… NASU
Tychicus was described as a beloved brother, faithful servant and fellow bond-servant. When you dig into the words a little we find "beloved" comes from "agapao" and this is the love that God has for His Son Jesus: John 3:35 - "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand." Tychicus was loved by Paul and the Colossian Christians with the same type of love God had for Jesus. As Christians, we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ with this same type of love. This basically means we are to help them in any way that we can. It was also said the he was a faithful servant. We find this can also be translated "faithful minister". The Greek word for minister is "diakonos" and this is where our English word "deacon" comes from and it means "to be a waiter or one who runs errands". You get the picture that Tychicus was interested in one thing and that was helping or serving in anyway possible. He ministered to the needs of his brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul is writing this letter while in Rome under house arrest. Tychicus is going to deliver this letter to them from Paul. Tychicus would be able to encourage them by letting them know about Paul's situation and life condition. I have listed below some of the other names mentioned in Colossians. Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother: he was the run away slave we read about in the book of Philemon. He is here called "faithful" and "beloved brother". In some way Onesimus lived his faith and the apostle lets us know he is seen as "faithful" to the Word of God and because of how he lived he was "loved" with the same type of love God had for Jesus. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner: was a traveling companion of Paul. In Acts 19 the angry mob drag him out of the theater with Gaius. In Acts 20 we see him traveling with Paul to Macedonia. In Acts 27 we see him board the ship with Paul that is headed to Rome where Paul will stand trial before Caesar. This ship will encounter a catastrophic storm and be destroyed. This will leave Paul and his traveling companions, Aristarchus being one of them, stranded on an island. When Paul arrives in Rome Aristarchus will be with him. One can see it was dangerous being an associate of the apostle Paul's. Jesus who is called Justus; fellow worker: he would have helped Paul in spreading the gospel. Epaphras, a bondslave of Jesus Christ: he saw himself as one who was owned by Jesus Christ and he lived according to this belief. He saw himself alive to serve Jesus. Luke, the beloved physician: it would be my opinion that Luke used his medical skill's to help many people as he traveled with Paul. In Philemon Luke is also called a fellow-worker, but most importantly in 2 Timothy Paul says everyone has departed to other areas of the world with the exception of Luke who is still with him while he is being held as a prisoner (house arrest) in Rome.
Would we be called a faithful servant, fellow worker, bond servant of Jesus Christ, fellow prisoner, beloved physician, nurse, accountant, mechanic, or whatever your occupation is or was? There is a saying in the sporting arena and it goes like this: It doesn't matter how you start. It matters how you finish. Let me encourage you to finish strong. If you started strong and have slacked off put that behind you and finish strong. Think About These: The man who really wants to do something finds a way; the other man finds an excuse. If you have an excuse, don't use it. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 1 Corinthians 15:53-57 - For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,
"DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. NASU
After He died He was resurrected by God the Father because He never sinned and it wasn't right that death should conquer Him. Paul is informing us that two things are going to happen to us as a Christian person when we physically die. First, we are going to physically go through a change. As of right now we have a body that is "perishable." The Greek word for "perishable" means capable of decaying. I am sure you won't get any argument from anyone 35 years old or older about the effects of aging. We are decaying, or in other words, we are not able to do what we did when we were 18 or 21 years of age and that is a fact. But we have a body that is coming that will allow us to never decay, age or lose our vitality. Second, we are going to become immortal. This means we will never die again. The Greek word for immortal is "athanasia" which means "no death or deathlessness." You may recognize the word "euthanasia" which means "a good death." The word "eu" in Greek means "good or well" and is used as a prefix in many English words. Another word is "eulogy" or good words spoken about a person at a funeral. Paul is able to mock death because he views death as a defeated enemy. You and I can mock death if we will have faith in Jesus Christ.
We can receive this "victory" by being "in Christ." The Greek word for "victory" is a very popular word and one I am sure you'll recognize. It is the word "Nike." The shoe manufacturer's name means "victory or victorious." When Nike started their company they saw themselves as being "victorious" in business. My question for you is this, "How do you see yourself when you will meet death face to face?" Do you see yourself getting the "Nike" or "Victory"? If you have faith in Jesus Christ you can be as assured as the Apostle Paul that when you meet death "face to face" the "Nike" will be yours.
John says, in 1 John 5:4-5 -For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? NASU Have you been "born of God" or been "born again"? John 3:3-7 - Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' NASU I was born again March 2, 1975 when I went down into a watery grave (aka- baptism) and was resurrected to walk in newness of life. Baptism is a transliterated word from the Greek. The translation of this Greek word is "immerse". I hope you will be "victorious" in this life by being able to defeat death when you meet it face to face. You can be "Nike". Think About This: The only thing worse than growing old is to be denied the privilege. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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